Mint 12 KDE

[KBD47]

I see that the Lisa KDE iso is ready for RC http://community.linuxmint.com/iso
But I'm not actually seeing the iso. If someone has the i386 iso please post a link to it.
Thanks!
KBD47

[cwwgateway]

Try this mirror, as I found the other ones to be extremely slow: http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/

Edit: They all seem to be pretty slow.

[KBD47]

Try this mirror, as I found the other ones to be extremely slow: http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/linuxmint.com/testing/

Edit: They all seem to be pretty slow.

Thanks! Downloading and will try it out.

[KBD47]

Well, I've tried the RC Mint KDE, and it's really just Kubuntu with a mint menu logo. Good thing they teamed up with the netrunner people as netrunner completely smokes both Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. Font rendering and everything else looks better in netrunner 4 than Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. This is not one I'll be spending time with.
KBD47

[cwwgateway]

Well, I've tried the RC Mint KDE, and it's really just Kubuntu with a mint menu logo. Good thing they teamed up with the netrunner people as netrunner completely smokes both Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. Font rendering and everything else looks better in netrunner 4 than Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. This is not one I'll be spending time with.
KBD47

You're download speeds must be much faster than mine because I started a little while before you and I'm only at 65%

[tdockery97]

Well, I've tried the RC Mint KDE, and it's really just Kubuntu with a mint menu logo. Good thing they teamed up with the netrunner people as netrunner completely smokes both Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. Font rendering and everything else looks better in netrunner 4 than Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. This is not one I'll be spending time with.
KBD47

Yeah, if you can get it. They've been down for 2 days.

[Daboo]

Well, I've tried the RC Mint KDE, and it's really just Kubuntu with a mint menu logo. Good thing they teamed up with the netrunner people as netrunner completely smokes both Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. Font rendering and everything else looks better in netrunner 4 than Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. This is not one I'll be spending time with.
KBD47

You bring up a question that has been rolling around in my mind for several days now. What really is the difference between Mint KDE and other KDE distributions?

The extra applications like Libre Office and Gimp are all added on to any linux installation. So they aren't "mintified". The menus in KDE are the same from Mint to the OpenSUSE I've been using now for weeks, both the standard KDE menu and the Lancelot menu. Same with the Personal Settings configuration application. It is a common configuration dialog. If you added KDE 4.7 from a LM12 Gnome installation, you'd get KDE 4.7...the same as you'd find in other linux distributions.

The only difference I see is in what application is used to install the extra software and in interface for updates.

So what does a "mintified" version of KDE get you that you don't get in another distribution using the same version of KDE?

This is an honest question, because if I was to leave OpenSUSE to come back to LinuxMint, I'd like to know why. It's a lot of trouble to change if it gives me nothing in return.

Chris

[tdockery97]

I think the single biggest difference is the Mint Update Manager. It is the only one that allows you to select the "level" of updates you want to receive for your system. A lot of users like to use only level 1-3 updates as they are the safest, and will keep apps up to date. Other distros you pretty much take all updates or none. Then there is Mint Backup. And of course Flash and codecs are preinstalled. Plus Mint's Software Center is different from Ubuntu's.

Other than that, there is little difference between Mint and Kubuntu.

I could be wrong, but that's what I can tell from 2 years of using Mint.

[KBD47]

You're download speeds must be much faster than mine because I started a little while before you and I'm only at 65%

I've roadrunner and luckily it only took me about 15 minutes to download the rc.

[KBD47]

Yeah, if you can get it. They've been down for 2 days.

I wonder if all the publicity from joining Mint has crashed their site? I had to get netrunner 4 from the softpedia site.

[KBD47]

Chris, I pretty much was asking myself the same questions you raised. Just to look at it the KDE Mint version looked no different than the Kubuntu version, other than the Mint logo on the application menu. tdockery97 covered everything else I think.
Fruitless wishing, but I wish Mint had gone Debian rather than Ubuntu with KDE. I think it would be a bigger hit, unless Mint takes a page from netrunner and really polishes their version to stand out like netrunner.
KBD47

[GerMulvey]

Testing: LM 12 KDE - 64 bit
First impressions of the desktop were urrgh. Personally I don't like it. This led me to change the background and theme instantly. Usually I add my usual wallpaper but as I was about to start a test drive decided to add one that's available. For some weird reason I have not seen it seems to not add the first until you click another and apply! So to apply wallpaper I had to select one and apply then select another to apply the first choice.
An interesting first minute!!

Dealbreaker: My nic is a Realtek 8111E/8168B so the first thing I generally need to do is run the autorun of the driver to insert into the kernel otherwise I loose the connection after it initially works and then degrades to useless. But I hit the same issue as I do in kubuntu when I attempt it and as the connection dies I can't download any need packages to rectify so as they say in dragons den "I'm out"

[BostonPeng]

Well, I've tried the RC Mint KDE, and it's really just Kubuntu with a mint menu logo. Good thing they teamed up with the netrunner people as netrunner completely smokes both Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. Font rendering and everything else looks better in netrunner 4 than Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. This is not one I'll be spending time with.
KBD47

Thanks for this, KBD. This one comment alone makes me want to stay with the LMDE base rather than switch to the official Mint 12 KDE release (or RC). I may try it out on a USB stick but I'm not sure I'll even update my VM to use the new release.

ETA: Actually I may take the upgrade so I can write a review for my blog. I'm seeing a nice bit of traffic looking for Mint KDE info, although a number of the referrers are for KDE on LMDE.

[colyn]

Well, I've tried the RC Mint KDE, and it's really just Kubuntu with a mint menu logo. Good thing they teamed up with the netrunner people as netrunner completely smokes both Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. Font rendering and everything else looks better in netrunner 4 than Kubuntu and Mint Lisa KDE. This is not one I'll be spending time with.
KBD47

I've tried both and find little difference except for the layout. Both run equally fast enough. I think they should offer a 64 bit version but for now the only option is i386 which will run on a 64 bit system but isn't able to utilize the full benifits of 64 bit..

Looks to me like they just used a different font but font rendering on Mint 12 KDE is working fine for me..

[ronerman]

I just installed the RC (32bit) and the updates. When I start Software Manager it starts up and immediately shuts down.

[ferri]

I just installed the RC (32bit) and the updates. When I start Software Manager it starts up and immediately shuts down.

The same at me.

[simpleblue]

I just installed the RC (32bit) and the updates. When I start Software Manager it starts up and immediately shuts down.

It happens to me as well.

We still have synaptic to download packages and it works fine so good enough for me.

One thing that differs in Mint KDE compared to Kubuntu is that Mint has the repo's automatically added. I noticed in Kubuntu that I could not download stuff like Konqueror because it was not in the default repos and I didn't know where to get it or want to have to manually add a ton of repos.

[ferri]

I just installed the RC (32bit) and the updates. When I start Software Manager it starts up and immediately shuts down.

The same at me.

After updating it is OK.

[simpleblue]

I just installed the RC (32bit) and the updates. When I start Software Manager it starts up and immediately shuts down.

The same at me.

After updating it is OK.

Woohoo, it's working again!

* edit *

Nope not working. It closes after just a few seconds of being opened.

[manny]

I'm already using the testing repos to use LMDE and KDE 4.7.4 and I'm pretty happy with it, despite lacking some packages I want. I follow the testing threads under LMDE pretty closely to make sure I don't inadvertently hose my poor laptop. I almost feel sorry for those using the Kubuntu base since I know how nice the Debian base is.

BostonPeng, glad to hear about your positive experience running KDE in LMDE. I installed Kubuntu same day of release and never been happier, I'm running now KDE 4.8 RC2. and has been grate.

Cheers!